1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to electronic devices, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for use in providing written and/or spoken language translation information services to mobile stations.
2. Information
Computerized techniques for translation of written and/or spoken languages continue to improve over time. Wireless communication networks also continue to improve not only in their coverage, but also in bandwidth and services which may be provided to mobile stations such as, for example, mobile telephones, smart phones, and various other portable electronic devices.
It is particularly useful for a user of a mobile station to use a mobile station and available services to translate information from one written and/or spoken language to another. For example, while traveling a user may benefit by having menu items in a restaurant translated to a language they understand. Conversely, a user may benefit by having a question (e.g., that they want to ask the waiter) translated into a language that the waiter understands.
At times, translating between languages can be particularly difficult, even for trained experts. Hence, computerized techniques for written and/or spoken language translation are not infallible. More advanced computerized techniques for written and/or spoken language translation tend to require more processing power, processing time, and/or memory/information. Accordingly, such language translation capabilities may not be well suited for stand-alone use in a mobile station having limited processing power, memory, and/or battery power. However, such language translation capabilities may be provided by one or more other computing devices to which a mobile station may connect via one or more networks.
To provide improved written and/or spoken language translation services to a mobile station, it may be useful to know where the mobile station is located. For example, if a user is traveling in China, a translation service may translate from German to Mandarin if the mobile station is determined to be located in Beijing or from German to Cantonese if the mobile station is determined to be located in Shanghai. Further written and/or spoken language translation service improvement may be realized by considering local context information relating to, for example, the user's current activity. Unfortunately, local context information may not always be available.